A company with a promising hybrid drive train that employs
ulta-capacitors, announced it intends to file for $2.5 billion of
funding from the $25 billion "green retooling" fund just established by
Congress.
AFS Trinity Power Corporation said it would use up to $2 billion
of the funding to retool an existing factory of an undetermined major
American car maker whose assembly line employees will be retrained to
produce plug-in hybrid SUV’s that utilize the company’s
150-mile-per-gallon "Extreme Hybrid" technology.
Selection of the car maker, factory and SUV models would be conducted
by AFS Trinity with the support of Ricardo, Inc, a leading automotive
engineering firm. Ricardo would also act as a subcontractor to AFS
Trinity, assisting with technology transfer and integration of the
redesign, retooling and retraining programs.
Ricardo estimates that about 80% of the $2.5 billion will be
paid under subcontract to the American carmaker, which would continue
to operate the facility once it is retooled to incorporate Extreme
Hybrid technology licensed from AFS Trinity.
AFS Trinity CEO Edward W. Furia said, "AFS Trinity has the
technology to make possible cars, trucks and SUVs that people want, but
AFS Trinity is a technology developer, not a manufacturer. On the other
hand, the American auto industry has skilled and experienced auto
workers and sophisticated manufacturing. By infusing AFS Trinity
technology into existing, but recently under-employed American SUV
plants, new plug in hybrid SUV models can be built that will leapfrog
world competition"
Last January, AFS Trinity Power Corporation was one of the show-stealers at the Detroit Auto Show,
displaying a converted Saturn Vue with the Extreme Hybrid. The SUV,
dubbed the XH-150, was capable of travelling 40 miles in electric mode
and had a range of 400 miles with gas.
GM(NYSE: GM), maker of Saturn, was not involved in the development of the XH-150 in any way.
AFS Trinity prototypes have been exhibited and demonstrated across
America over the last 10 months, including drives by Members of
Congress, Senators, Governors and operators of America’s largest
automotive fleets.
Furia said that all three American carmakers have current models that
are candidates to be redesigned as Extreme Hybrids and they have
factories where they can be built.
AFS Trinity also reported results of a ten-month battery testing
that compared the durability of lithium ion batteries used alone or
coupled with ultracapacitors, as in the AFS Trinity energy storage
system.
The outcome of the tests was that the battery/ultracap
combination was 6 times as durable as the same lithium ion battery used
alone, according to AFS Trinity.
"These tests demonstrated that our battery/ultracap combination
survived the equivalent of 150,000 miles of continuous use in a plug in
hybrid duty cycle compared to only 25,000 miles durability of the same
batteries when used alone," Furia said.
Battery tests were conducted by independent battery testing laboratory, Mobile Power Solutions of Beaverton, Oregon.
Ricardo CEO David Shemmans, said, "Batteries are the single most
expensive part of an electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid EV. From a cost
standpoint, replacing the batteries is analogous to replacing the
engine in an internal combustion-only car. Replacing the battery after
they are used for only 25,000 miles, which could occur in just over 18
months in an average American driver’s car, would make plug-ins
impractical. A plug-in hybrid with an energy storage system that can
survive 150,000 miles of driving is an enormous advantage and a
potential economic game changer."
Andrew Chien, President of Ricardo’s North American Strategic
Consulting Operations, said, "The $25B ‘Green Retooling’ program was
setup to help companies like AFS Trinity make the leap from developing
prototype Green technologies to deploying them into commercially viable
vehicles that the average American consumer can buy."
Furia said "If the government will use part of the auto industry
"green retooling" funds already approved by Congress to redesign and
retool for production of Extreme Hybrids under the AFS Trinity plan or
under an alternative plan from a manufacturer that would employ AFS
Trinity technology, a factory being closed in Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin
or another state, could be re-opened and its employees returned to
work."
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